Vernon photographers took to the skies to seize pictures of the town

History from above

Gwyn Evans – Apr 20, 2026 / 4:00 am | Story: 609433

Aerial pictures is a vital method of documenting an evolving metropolis panorama. In Vernon, Doug Kermode (1913–2001) is usually credited with capturing a lot of the town from above over a 40-year span up till the late Eighties.

The Vernon Archives holds greater than 500 aerial pictures taken by Kermode.

Other photographers have been additionally energetic throughout this era, together with David Madison, a latest assortment of whose work has been processed by the Vernon Archives.

Madison (1944–2019) skilled as an electronics technician with the RCAF, the place he earned each his personal and industrial pilot’s licences. After leaving the RCAF, he briefly taught flying earlier than returning to high school to finish a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Education. He later labored as a teacher-librarian at W. L. Seaton Secondary School till his retirement in 2002. Throughout his life, Madison mixed his ardour for flying along with his curiosity in pictures, and for a number of years flew throughout British Columbia to pursue aerial pictures.

The historical past of aerial pictures is nearly as fascinating as the photographs themselves. The earliest aerial pictures have been taken utilizing kites, balloons, and even pigeons. In 1903, Dr. Julius Neubronner of Germany patented a miniature pigeon-mounted digicam activated by a timing mechanism. Around 1908, one of many first recognized pigeon aerial pictures was taken, displaying a citadel in Kronberg, Germany.

The first recognized use of a movement image digicam mounted on a heavier-than-air plane is believed to have occurred a 12 months later over Rome, ensuing within the three-minute silent movie Wilbur Wright und seine Flugmaschine.

Over time, aerial pictures has been used to evaluate geology, archaeology, catastrophe websites, environmental change, and the expansion and growth of cities and cities. The Vernon Archives holds a group of greater than 1,000 aerial pictures and, with the assistance of social media contributors, has just lately been capable of establish the places of a number of Vernon neighbourhoods captured in Madison’s work.

Alongside Kermode and different aerial photographers, Madison’s work supplies a long-lasting visible document of Vernon’s evolving panorama.

Gwyn Evans is the Head of Archives with the Museum and Archives of Vernon.